“Defenshield Inc., a maker of ballistic shields for the military and law enforcement agencies, is moving to Florida … company executives told the chamber of commerce they were moving to St. Augustine because of Florida’s lower taxes and better climate … There may have been one other factor in the company’s decision. A story in the St. Augustine Record on Saturday said Defenshield founder William Collins White III is a “self-professed gun enthusiast” and was a fan of Florida’s less-stringent firearms laws. It was not immediately clear whether New York’s SAFE Act restrictions on military-style assault weapons interferes with the company’s operations …”

“For years, advocates of stricter gun laws have rallied at the barricades of the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting. But this year, as the gun lobby convenes in Indianapolis, there’s a new posse in town. They’re mothers … And they’re dead set on disarming the NRA of its outsize political power …”

Oh shit, Moms!

If they ever get involved with gun politics we could be in real trouble. Nobody has ever tried to mobilize that force before ….

So far Astorino is doing a good job reaching out for the gun vote. This big fuck you to the Journal News should help him with more than just money. It sets the tone of how his campaign will deal with an unfriendly downstate media.

“Gov. Cuomo, long known for his presidential aspirations, won’t enjoy the support of his own Democratic Party if Hillary Rodham Clinton decides not to run for president in 2016, top state Democrats have told The Post. The Democrats said Cuomo’s worsening relations with his party have led many to look elsewhere for a presidential standard bearer, should Clinton not run … “People don’t like Andrew Cuomo, and if you ask about the presidency, there’s no support there,’’ a prominent Democratic activist and party official told The Post …”

“About one quarter of New York voters would vote for a liberal, union-backed candidate over Gov. Andrew Cuomo in this fall’s election, according to a new poll out from Siena College Research Institute. Cuomo, a Democrat expected to run for a second term, still holds a 2-to-1 lead over Republican challenger Rob Astorino, the Siena poll found. But if a Working Families Party candidate enters the race, 24 percent of voters polled said they’d back the third-party candidate over the current governor …”

“Anxious Senate Democrats quietly celebrated former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s announcement this week that he plans to spend $50 million this year to build a grass-roots network pushing for new gun controls. “If he is successful, the people he will motivate to vote are extremely likely to vote for Democrats, period, end of story,” said one senior Senate Democratic aide. “It could help drive Democratic turnout,” said another national Democratic strategist …”

“… The goal is to attract 2.5 million supporters, many of them women, who would then be motivated to go to the polls. Those pro-gun control voters are sure to be overwhelmingly Democratic, political strategists and aides said, boosting all Democratic candidates …”

“Reward lawmakers who vote with you; punish those who don’t. Core to the NRA strategy is to reward those legislators who take positive action and positions on gun reform — and punish those who don’t, even when they otherwise align politically. This longtime tactic is one gun safety groups have historically stayed away from, and it is the one Everytown has been most explicit about duplicating from the NRA …”

This simply is not true. Antigun organizations did try to engage in electioneering activity just like NRA, but failed miserably at it because their endorsements mean nothing as they do not represent a voting block.

“Deploy your members to every town hall, where they can hijack the conversation. The NRA has long employed its members to turn out and make gun rights an issue — everywhere they go … Gun safety groups have already started to play this game over the past year …”

This is misleading. NRA members and supporters turn up at town hall meetings on their own accord, not at some direction from NRA HQ. Gunnies have grassroots, antis have astroturf.

“Make your constituent base as broad as possible. Everytown plans to boost its membership from 1.5 to 2.5 million over the next year. But the NRA already claims to have more than 5 million members behind it …”

This is misleading as the Bloomberg bunch does not claim to have dues-paying members like NRA, but rather “supporters” which disguises the true number of people who willing join and/or donate to the group. If they really had 1.5 million dues-paying members now, then why did Mike have to donate $50 million to bankroll this operation?

“Make the conversation about principles, not guns. The NRA has made gun rights about more than guns. NRA-ILA Executive Director put it this way: “I’ve met thousands of NRA members and I know that we all share the same core belief in freedom. The Second Amendment is just a guarantee of one specific freedom; it represents a value system that goes far beyond gun ownership. As the old saying goes, ‘Gun control isn’t about guns. It’s about control.’” … The gun safety movement has always had the obvious symbolism of safety and security. But in the past year they have tailored their message to emphasize community, and in particular, family …”

This is not true. While the antis have changed their mouthpieces and talking points every so often in an effort to remain relevant in the eyes of sympathetic media, their core message and objective has always been the same: go after the guns. How long will Everytown last? I give it a couple of years before it changes it name and morphs into something else with the same agenda.

“Turn your opponent’s strengths against them. After the Newtown Massacre, Mayors Against Guns invested $12 million in television ads against the NRA in key states. These ads were persuasive and helped make gun safety a national conversation …”

This is not true. The real “national conversation” on guns is over and gunnies won. That is why Congress refused to advance the antis agenda. The antis, their legislative allies and talking heads in the media, simply refuse to admit gun control is unpopular and that the general public is not as dumb and uninformed as they like to think it is.

“Michael R. Bloomberg, making his first major political investment since leaving office, plans to spend $50 million this year building a nationwide grass-roots network to motivate voters who feel strongly about curbing gun violence, an organization he hopes can eventually outmuscle the National Rifle Association …”

Boring. He’s put millions into all sorts of antigun legislative, political and public relations initiatives with little to show for it.

“… Mr. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, said gun control advocates need to learn from the N.R.A. and punish those politicians who fail to support their agenda — even Democrats whose positions otherwise align with his own. “They say, ‘We don’t care. We’re going to go after you,’ ” he said of the N.R.A. “ ‘If you don’t vote with us we’re going to go after your kids and your grandkids and your great-grandkids. And we’re never going to stop.’ ” He added: “We’ve got to make them afraid of us.” …”

Empty threat. The antigun movement is now and always has been a small number of professional politicians and activists hiding behind an astroturf facade. They can’t turn out the vote because they have no genuine public support.

“… The considerable advantages that gun rights advocates enjoy — in intensity, organization and political clout — will not be easy to overcome …”

Because gunnies represent a real constituency money cannot buy.

“… Indeed, Mr. Bloomberg has already spent millions of dollars trying to persuade members of Congress to support enhanced background check laws with virtually nothing to show for it …”

And he is too full of himself to admit why he keeps on failing.

“… Mr. Bloomberg’s blueprint reimagines the way gun control advocates have traditionally confronted the issue. Rather than relying so heavily on television ad campaigns, Mr. Bloomberg will put a large portion of his resources into the often-unseen field operations that have been effective for groups like the N.R.A. in driving single-issue, like-minded voters to the polls. Women, and mothers in particular, will be the focus of the organizing and outreach, a path that he and his advisers have modeled after groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving …”

This cannot work because it is based upon the assumption gun control has an untapped voting constituency which it doesn’t. If it did, at some point over the past 30-40 years some gun control organization would have discovered it.

“… The strategy will focus not on sweeping federal restrictions to ban certain weapons, but instead will seek to expand the background check system for gun buyers both at the state and national levels …”

The Times isn’t honest enough to call it what it really is: prohibition of private transfers.

“… The $50 million could be significant … They have set a goal of signing up one million new supporters this year on top of the 1.5 million they already have …”

Notice they say supporters as opposed to members. The Brady Bunch used to say the same thing back in the 90s in a lame effort to claim they were as big as NRA.

“… Previous efforts by Mr. Bloomberg to push gun control have touched off tensions with national Democratic leaders …”

Because they know gun control is a stinker politically.

“… Underscoring his desire to work with both parties, Mr. Bloomberg is bringing on a new advisory board with prominent Republican and Democratic figures …”

Who all share the same statist, “Government is God” philosophy regardless of their party registration. Why can’t he have an advisory committee made up of ordinary citizens? There’s that astroturf problem again.

“… He was also dismissive of skeptics who might question whether he could ever build an organization that rivaled the N.R.A. And he seemed unaware of, or unwilling to acknowledge, the ways in which his own persona — of a billionaire, Big Gulp-banning former mayor of New York — could undercut his efforts, especially in rural, conservative states. “I don’t know what your perception is of our reputation, and mine, the name Bloomberg around the country,” he said. But every place he goes, he added, “You’re a rock star. People yelling out of cabs, ‘Hey, way to go!’ ” …”

The man is insane. The only possible way I can think of for Bloomberg to make himself even more unpopular than he is now is to start doing commercials for erectile dysfunction pills. “Hi. My name is Michael Bloomberg and I’d like to talk to you about E.D. …”

“… “Right now, women, when they go to the polls, they vote on abortion, they vote on jobs, they vote on health care,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action. “We want one of those things to be gun violence prevention.” …”

Why don’t you explain why they don’t do that now?

“… Pointing to his work on gun safety, obesity and smoking cessation, he said with a grin: “I am telling you if there is a God, when I get to heaven I’m not stopping to be interviewed. I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in heaven. It’s not even close.” …”